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vJ. R. BAKER, J. CRAIG 8v G. SINGLETON.

PENCIL SHARPENBR.

No. 370,001.- Patented Sept. 13, 1887.

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ATTORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT rrrca.

JACKSON R. BAKER, JAMES CRAIG, AND GEORGE SINGLETON, OF JERSEY CITY, NEl/V JERSEY; SAID SINGLETON ASSIGNOR TO SAID BAKER AND CRAIG.

PENClL-SHARPENER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 370,001, dated September 13, 1887.

Application filed December 6, 1886. Serial No. 220,765. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, JACKSON It. BAKER,

J AMES CRAIG, and GEORGE SINGLETON, all of Jersey City, in the county ofHudson and State of New Jersey, have jointly invented a new and useful Improvement in PencilSharpeners, of which we declare the following to be a full, ,clear, and exact specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

This invention is in the nature of an improvement in lead-pencil sharpeners; and the invention consists in a lead-pencil sharpener constructed, arranged, and combined substantially as is hereinafter with particularity shown, described, and claimed.

In the accompanying sheet of drawings, Figure 1 is a plan or top View of our sharpener; Fig. 2, a side view of same; Fig. 3, an end 2( view, partly in section; Fig. 4, a detail in section; Fig. 5, a cross-section through an at, Fig. 4; Fig. 6, a plan of polygonal knife.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts in the several views.

The purpose of this invention is the production of a machine which will sharpen or diuary lead-pencils without breaking the lead of the pencil and without soiling the hand of the operator.

Many devices for sharpening lead pencils have heretofore been made and patented, all

of them possessing more or less merit, but having constructions which effected the sharpening of the pencil by cutting the wood and lead of the pencil in most instances at right angles, or spirally, so far as we are aware. This spiral cutting has resulted usually in twisting the lead point from the pencil, and it is to avoid this objection and to makea pencil-point with greater facility, certainty, and better that we construct our device in the following manner.

Referring to the drawings, A represents the base of our sharpening device, made from any suitable material and of any convenient size. To this base is fixed a frame, B, which supports a guide, 0, oftubular form. This guide 0, it may be stated, is preferably inclined somewhat from the perpendicular, as is shown in Fig. 3. One side of the guide is cut away,

so as to expose the interior of the tube in a conical-shaped opening, a, the base of the opening being provided with an offset or shoulder, b, through which offset is made a conical recess, 0. To the frame B is pivoted an operating-lever, D, and to this operating-lever is adj ustably attached a knife, E, which may be circular or polygonal in form, the position of the knife on the lever D being such as to cause the knife to lie snugly against the side of the tubular guide 0 where this is cutaway, and to pass in that position downward along the surface of that side when the operating-lever D is brought downward by the hand of the operator. The lever D may, if desired, be pro- Vided at one end with a coilspriug, d, as is shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

To the base A of our sharpening device is fixed an adjusting feature, consisting of the brackets e and f and a stop, 9. A gage, E, which is tubular, with apart, h, thread It, having angular faces, and with slots Z, and having a threaded nut, m, fitting the thread It, is a useful accessory, and with it and our device constructed substantially as we have hereinbefore described it a lead-pencil is sharpened in this wise: The pencil is passed through the nut m and tube of the gage F, the nut being partially unscrewed therefrom, the part it of the gage resting in the bracket 6, the tube of the gage in the bracket f. The pencil is then pushed through the gage F until its inner end abuts against the stop 9. The nut on now being screwed home on the thread 70, the tube of the gage, by reason of the slotslcuttherein, tightly binds and holds the pencil in the gage. The tubular part a of the gageis now inserted in the tubular guide 0, the end of the pencil passing through this guide and resting on the offset or shoulder b. In this position the wood of the pencil protrudes through the conical-shaped opening a, as in Fig. 4, so that when the opcrating-lever D is brought downward theknife E,fixed thereto, following closely the side ofthe guide where this is cut away, meets the protruding part of the pencil, and necessarily in its descent shaves off such protruding part. The pencil being turned until no part of it protrudes to be shaved by the knife, then the end of the pencil, being reduced in size, descends into the conical recess of the shoulder b, from which the reduced part projects, and this proection is again subjected to the action of the knife, as before, the pencil gradually descendmg to the bottom of the conical recess as the reached the knife ceases to have any further cutting effect, the pencil being prevented from descending farther than the bottom of the recess by the part h of the gage F, which is then brought in contact with the upper end of the guide 0. The pencil now being withdrawn from the guide-tube, it will be found that the pencil has been sharpened to a uniform taper, the taper of the wood being mainly above the offset or shoulder b and the taper of the lead below that shoulder. It will be observed that this sharpening of the lead-pencil is accomplished by shaving the wood of the pencilwith its grain and shaving the lead of the pencil in the direction of its length by repeated actions of the knife E, each cutting action of the knife necessarily removing only a given and almost uniform quantity of wood and lead with each stroke of the operating-lever, governed only in quantity by the position of the pencil in the guide, and the result is that the wood and lead are shaved off smoothly and quickly without twisting or tearing either the wood or the lead, and without danger, therefore, of breaking off the point. We do not wish to limit ourselves to the adusting devices fixed to the base of the sharpener, as described, for, as is apparent, many other ways for adj nsting the pencil to the guidet'ube may be adopted.

The knife E, as before stated, is adjustably secured to the operating-lever,and this seeur ing may be done by an ordinary screw with or without a milled head to be worked by the fingers, as a setscrew. The purpose of this adjustable attachment is to bring into position from time-to time a new and sharp cutting-edge as one part of the periphery of the circular or one side of the polygonal cutter shall become dulled from use, and also to facilitate the removal of the cutter for resharpening.

The purpose of the coil-spring d is to offer a slight resistance to the downward movement of the operating-lever, and so tend to steady that movement, and also-by its elastic force assist inrestoring the lever to its upward position and maintain it in that position.

Having now described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A pencil-sharpening device having in combination an inclined guide-tube with a portion thereof cut away to expose a part of the interior of the tube, and an operating-lever with a cutter adjustably secured thereto,as

I and for the purpose described.

2. In apencilsharpenin'g device, the following elementsin combination: an inclined guidetube with a portion cut away to expose the interior of the tube, an offset, 1), with aconieal recess, 0, extending therefrom, as and for the purpose described.

3. Ina pencil-sharpening device, the following elements in combination: an inclined guidetube with a portion cut away to expose the interior of the tube, and an offset and conical recess, as described, and a gage consisting of a slotted and threaded tube with a part, h,formed thereon having angular faces, and a screw-nut, m, fitting on said thread on said tube, as and for the purpose described.

4. In a pencil-sharpening device,in combination, a guide-tube cut away and provided with an offset and conical recess, an operatinglever with an adjustable knife attached thereto, a tubular gage and nut constructed as described, and devices whereby the position of the pencil within the gage may be adjusted, as'and for the purpose described. 5. In a pencil-sharpening device, a guidetube constructed as described, and an operating-lever provided with an adjustable circular or polygonal knife, as and for the purpose described. V

6. In a pencil-sharpening device, a tubular guide with a portion thereof cut away and with offset and conical recess, as described, in combination with a tubular gage,whereby the descent of the pencil within the tubular guide is limited, as and for the purpose described.

' 7. A pencil-sharpener having in combination a guide-tube constructed as described, an operating-lever with an adjustable knife attached thereto, and a coil-spring,d, as and for the purpose described.

8. A pencil-sharpener with an adjusting device consisting of brackets e and f and stop g,

and a tubular gage, F, whereby the position .of the pencil may be adjusted within said gage,

as and for the purpose described.

JACKSON R. BAKER. JAMES CRAIG.

GEORGE SINGLETON. y 

